Restored Director John Carpenter The Thing 1982 Interview Part 1

Film critic writer Jim Verniere of The Boston Herald called to tell me he was with film director John Carpenter and wondered if I wanted to tape the interview.


In fact Jim got the idea to call me when he spotted a video magazine called "The Videophiles" on John Carpenters coffee table, opened to an article called " The Celluloid Movie Death Toll by your humble boomer narrator Me.


So Carpenter agreed to let me tape the interview if I could be there in a hour.


The only problem was I didn't have a video camera, because I loaned it to assistant cameraman Billy Colman, who was shooting screen tests with his boss the Legendary Director of Photography Andrew Laszlo of First Blood, Innerspace and Star Trek V fame.


I worked with Andy and Billy on Somebody Killed Her Husband with Jeff Bridges and Farrah Fawcett in 1978, and The Dain Curse with James Coburn 1978. Andy loved me when I found a 35mm print of the 1915 D.W. Griffith's Intolerance for his collection, so he owed me a favor, so to speak.


Andy was the DP for Francois Ford Coppola's first film, Your A Big Boy Now, it was Andy's second film in 1966.


The reason I bring this up is that Andy broke for lunch early to let Bill take the camera and shoot the interview for me, but he had to be back in an hour as well.


Also cameraman Billy Coleman went on to The Sopranos 2011, and got nominated for his work as the Director of Photography on "Board Walk Empire"2014 , and a lot more. As a team Bill went to Japan with Andy to shoot the series Shogun 1980 with Richard Chamberlain, but that's another story.


They all came to my rescue back in the days my pioneering days of Public Access Cable Television, and that's another story.


What's interesting is Billy didn't have lights, so he showed up with Aluminum Foil and two reflecting light umbrellas, and ridged the lamps in Carpenters hotel room to reflect light, it was a mess but I got an hour talking with Carpenter about Video Vs Film, if I can ever find the tape.


NOTES: You can see John Carpenter was burnt out wait for me to show up which took 2 hours, but that's what a great guy does, but that's another story.


PS: A lot of Celluloid Film Rental houses never had enough Video cameras or nothing at all.



PSS: My Buddy Jack Hardy at GrapevineVideo.com restored the first of the 3/4 Mini Analog 20 minute Video tape cartridge I used, with a beat up video camera.


See more of the Interview at TVDAYS.com



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